I was actually dead tired. Leaving Makati at 2:30am and arriving in Sunset Bay Resort at 7:45am, running on practically empty was like the order of the day. Good thing the friendly restaurant personnel at the resort prepared yummy breakfast plates that served our tummies well into the day. Sleep for four hours was ordered in our individual rooms. And then it was off to the Pre-Judging at the well-appointed La Union Provincial Capitol.
The twenty (20) Official Candidates were beaming with pride as they presented to our panel made up of Fashion Designer and Beauty Queen Maker Mama Renee Salud, Miss Philippines Earth and Miss Air 2013 Stephany Stefanowitz, Fil-Dutch model and Century Tuna Superbods 2nd Runner-Up Laurens Tolenaars, TV5 Program Manager Ryan Benitez and myself.
By the time the actual finals started at 8:45PM thereafter, we already had a good idea on which five (5) ladies deserved to fight for the top spots. We only needed validation of their individual performances during the Final Q&A. In the end, Alessandra Casimiro of Agoo proved to be the most consistent and ran away with the crown of Mutia ti La Union 2015. Early favorites Angelina Maranan of Sto. Tomas and Maria Cristine Cassandra Ralbovsky of the City of San Fernando got the Turismo and Kalikasan crowns, respectively. Runners-up include Anne Margareth Sanglay of San Juan and Kyle Rysher Federico of Bauang.Congratulations to the Province of La Union and the La Union Information and Tourism for such a well-organized beauty competition. And kudos as well to Director Kitchie Benedicto, Headwriter Jojo Nones, Executive Producer Tintin Rosales, Production Manager Grace Rubio and Casting Director Marie Gutierrez who made a concerted effort in running a tightly-paced finals event.
Till Mutia ti La Union 2016! ;-)
P.S. Thanks to Tita Marie Gozun and Tita Kitchie Benedicto for the opportunity to judge last night’s competition. :-)